Ooyala Flex 7.0.1 Release Notes 2018-05-15

Purpose

Ooyala Flex 7.0.1 is a maintenance release to fix issues found in production. Aside from fixing a number of issues, we have made the following changes:
(Please see the “What’s New” section for more details)

MAM:

Ability to copy text from the MAM user interface.

Improved styling of TTML subtitles in the MAM player.

Reviewer:

Removed the “Enter” key as a hotkey in review sessions.

Improved styling of TTML subtitles in the Reviewer player.

REST API: Introduced a new endpoint that enables users to add multiple
annotations to an asset in a single request.

Vidchecker Integration: Support for Vidchecker 7.5.6.

Secure Downloads: Introduced secure image and proxy downloads.

Publish: Azure smooth stream migration from Azure Access Control to Azure Active
Directory, along with the addition of new configuration fields in the Publish Azure Smooth
Stream action.

What's New

Secure Image and Proxy Downloads

Previously, any asset that could be accessed in MAM / Reviewer was public. This meant it
was possible to see all the keyframes for each asset tile. As each asset was public, it was
possible to pull down all the keyframes, images, and videos in MAM / Reviewer without any
kind of authentication.

We have made changes to address this. From 7.0.1 onwards, any application retrieving an
asset should provide an access token which allows an asset to be downloaded. The access
token is a JSON Web Token, issued by the Ooyala Flex Authentication service, and validated
on the proxy. Each token expires within 15 minutes, preventing a replay of the request at a
later stage.

Note: The MAM and Reviewer applications renew the token every 10 minutes.

Reviewer: Removal of “Enter” as a Hotkey for Comments in a Review Session

We have disabled the “Enter” key as a hotkey on the video and image review pages, when making comments. Originally, the “Enter” Key could be used to submit a comment, but from 7.0.1 onwards, pressing “Enter” will simply create a new line in the comment text box.

REST API: Support for Adding Annotations in a Single Request

We have introduced a new endpoint that enables you to add multiple annotations to an asset in a single request.

Note: In previous versions of Ooyala Flex, you could only apply one annotation at a time. This was done using the /assets/{assetId}/annotations (POST) request. This endpoint is still in use alongside the new {assetId}/annotations/bulk endpoint.

We have added the ability to add schema rules in the configuration for actions in the UI. From 7.0.1 onwards, if an action configuration contains schema rules it is saved in a database.

In previous versions of Ooyala Flex, each schema rule was applied to an action and saved in the database. However, when an attempt was made to change the action configuration using the Enterprise UI, the schema rules were not be applied. We examined the code and modified it so that schema rules are applied and should work as per the defined rule in the UI.

It was also found that schema rules were not being applied when an action was run against an asset, as well as at the time of saving the job. We have made changes to the code so that schema rules now apply to jobs as well.

Improved Styling of TTML Subtitles in MAM and Reviewer Players

We have improved the styling and positioning of subtitles, extracted from TTML files in the MAM and Reviewer players. Previously, the subtitles would be extracted and the system would ignore the styling and position settings. This caused subtitles to appear in the top-left corner of the player. From now on, subtitles will be positioned at the bottom of the screen in the center of the player.

MAM: Ability to Copy Text from the MAM UI

We have added the ability to copy text from the MAM user interface, such as text or asset
IDs.

Support for Vidchecker Versions up to and Including 7.5.6

Ooyala Flex 7.0.1 now supports integration with Vidchecker versions 7.1.5 up to 7.5.6.

We have made changes to the Publish Azure Smooth Stream action. We have migrated from Azure Access Control (AAC) to Azure Active Directory (AAD). This means that any existing instances of this action will need to be upgraded to support this change.

Note: Instructions for setting up the Azure Stream Publish action, including obtaining Azure specific keys, Azure Tenant Domain and the Azure Media Services Rest endpoints can be found on the Publish page in the Action Plugins section.

Note: All the existing instances of this plugin must be replaced with the new version. The old configuration is deprecated and will no longer function.

With this migration, we have also added the following new fields to the configuration for
the Azure Smooth Stream action:

The previous set of configuration fields would not work with the new Azure Active Directory (AAD) system. So we have replaced the old Azure Transcode Resource configuration fields with new ones. The new fields are as follows:

Transcoder Properties:

Transcode Engine

Azure Media Service Tenant

Azure Media Service REST Endpoint

Azure AD Client ID

Azure AD Client Key

Migration of Metadata Persistence from MySQL to ArangoDB

We have migrated metadata persistence from MySQL to ArrangoDB.

Issues Fixed

Indexed asset in ElasticSearch and metadata defination field values are null

It was found that in certain Ooyala Flex environments, metadata, and definitionId field values were shown as null when fetching assets from SearchElastic.

Resolution: Some of the required fields were missing while indexing. It was found that the values for those fields were being set and returned in the search response.

MAM: Text and styling not is displaying correctly on MAM login page in IE 11

Some users found that if they were viewing the MAM login page in Internet Explorer 11, the styling and text would not display correctly.

Resolution: Some users were running Internet Explorer in Compatibility View. At present we do not support Internet Explorer in Compatibility View. Viewing MAM in this way will negatively impact user experience, as it severely limits the CSS and JavaScript styling capabilities.

MAM: Files stored in S3 cannot be played

Some users found that if they had assets stored in Amazon s3, they were unable to play them in MAM.

Resolution: This issue has been fixed and assets stored in s3 play correctly in MAM.

MAM: Timeline zoom functionality has broken

Users could successfully zoom in and out of a timeline, however, the highlighted block (representing each annotation on the timeline) would remain in the same place and would not re-adjust correctly.

Resolution: The timeline zoom functionality has been fixed and the highlighted blocks on the timeline now re-adjust correctly.

Subtitles won’t display when subtitle file is in .dfxp and .xml format

Users found that .ttml subtitle assets would display correctly in the MAM player. However, if the file format was .dfxp or .xml, the subtitles would not appear on the video.

Resolution: We have corrected this issue and subtitles that are in .dfxp or .xml formats now display correctly in the MAM player.

MAM: Unable to download assets

Some users were unable to download assets using the “Download” button in MAM. When they clicked on the “Download” button, they would see a “This page isn’t working” error.

Resolution: The reason for this was that the names of the files contained certain
special characters, which were not supported and therefore prevented the download from
happening. We have amended this so that the following characters are now supported: ( )
< > @ , ; : \ " / [ ] ?

Reviewer: Timeline comments not rendered correctly in Reviewer in full screen view

Users found that if they entered full screen view and added new comments to the timeline, existing comments would be displaced and would not display correctly.

Resolution: This issue only occurred for displays with higher screen resolutions. This issue has now been fixed.

Reviewer: Rendering of TTML after returning from full screen view causes display issues

Regardless of whether a timeline comment was added in full screen view or normal view, the selected timeline comment would be misplaced, or not shown correctly when users switched between full screen to normal, or vice versa.

Resolution: This issue has been fixed and comments now appear correctly when changing between full screen view and normal view in Reviewer.

SAML Authentication: First and last names are shown as "User User" when registered with SAML

First and last names of users were displaying as “user user” when they were registered with SAML.

Resolution: If the SAML response contains no values, they are automatically taken from the email of the user.

Example:

The email of a user might be ‘jbloggs@organisation.com'

The username will be 'jbloggs’.

The first name will be 'jbloggs'.

The last name will be 'jbloggs'

If the username has already been taken by another user in the system, a random number will be afixed to the username. For example: 'jbloggs_96'.

Known Issues

MAM is no longer rendering taxons

Taxons are no longer being rendered in MAM. This will be fixed in the next release.

Files in a private private s3 bucket are not playing

Files stored in private s3 buckets are not playing in MAM. This will be fixed in the next
release.

Reviewer: Sorting of comments is not working

The sorting functionality for comments in Reviewer is not working correctly. Currently
users are unable to sort through existing comments by date, start time, and end time. This
will be fixed in the next release.